We had started with three fish (2 Shubunkins and one red cap comet fancy tail). The images below are similar to the ones we have.
Thing progressed really well for two months and I decided that it was time to add a new fish to the tank. I really wanted to add a telescopic eye black moor and the rest of the family agreed.
For about three weeks after the new fish we had no problems but then one of the shubunkins started to flash and clamped down her fins. The other three fish started attacking it and she looked quite miserable. We talked to our local fish store (LFS) and they suggest to wait and see what happens. We couldn't watch this without taking any action so we got some API Perma Fix and Aquarium salt.
We dosed the tank according to the instructions and after two days nothing changed. The shubunkin was getting worse so we moved her to a separate smaller tank and attached a Aquaone SR2500 airpump.
Although she wasn't getting worse I think she wasn't improving either. One morning I changed the water and when I came back to the kitchen 10 minutes later she had jumped out and landed on the floor. Discovering her on the floor was a horrible experience. I didn't even expect that a goldfish could jump at all!
By the evening the second shubunkin in the main tank started to display the same symptoms. I rung up our LFS and they recommended we try Aquatopia Australia Para Blast Tablets as they suspected it was a gill fluke infestation.
Active Constituents: 20mg/Tb Trichlorfon
Manufacturer: Aqua Topia Australia
Treats: External Parasites
Dosage Rate: Use at the rate of 1 tablet per 40L of aquarium water.
We dosed the tank with Para Blast and salt and the results were almost immediate. Over the next 24 hours the fish started swimming better and became more active. They released many long strings of mucus but showed no ill effects. However our shubunkin was still being picked on so I made a DIY isolation chamber from a old fruit yoghurt container which I used in the main tank. The effect was similar to the photo below but not as "elegant".
Today we did a 30% water change and vacuumed all the gravel. We gave all our ornaments a good wash to get rid of the mucus. We have dosed the tank with Para Blast, Permafix and salt. We hope everything should start to settle down once again.
My suspicion is that we introduced the flukes when we bought the back moor from our LFS. Reading articles on the internet this seems to be a very common issue. What we need to do in the future is work out how we can quarantine new fish before adding them to our main tank or just add them and a dose of Para Blast. The latter is easier to do but not really nice.
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